Two Old Hinges

On ongoing project around here in the last week or so has been building a chicken pen.  Several months ago five chicks were brought to the farm and are past being ready for bigger digs than the brooder where they have been living.  The frame has been put up, the chicken wire hung, and today I built the gate and hung it.  The most interesting thing about the project has been the find of some old hinges which someone around here used a long time ago.  They were frozen tight by rust, but a hammer, screwdriver, and a generous dosing of WD-40 freed them for another round of use.      

It is kinda nice to be able to use something from someone else's hands who worked this land.  It reminds me of many things.  Not only have other people been here, found purpose in what they were doing, and left stories in the memory of the farm, but these old hinges remind me of my place in the scheme of God's ongoing creation.  Like them I am here for awhile and like them I will be leaving signs of the presence of another for whoever it is that comes after me.  What we do is important for the day, but it has rippling effects across the time which comes after our time on the earth is gone.    

Whenever I open and close the gate, those old hinges will speak words to me about the ongoing life that God has for me and for all of us.  Maybe one of those things will be the reminder on some day of questioning my own usefulness that each one of us can be put to some use for which we had never anticipated.  Just maybe the word about God not being through with us yet is really true.  Certainly, it is a good word and I have put up a sign now on the gatepost of the chicken pen in the form of two old rusty looking hinges to remind me.